Friday, August 01, 2008

I'm not crazy about critical mass. Infact, I don't even know the point of it all.

But by now, you must have all seen this, floating around the web on many sites.

My intuition is that the bicyclist, while out of the frame and riding towards the cop, must have yelled out some obscenity or even given the finger to the officer, Mr. Pogan.

I don't know.

The cyclist also rides a similar type of bike and come from the general direction as the other cyclists. So why was just he targeted?

Perhaps the answer is : The clip is too short and doesn't show other arrests, only one spectacular one.

While we don't quite know what may have been the real provoking element, it is quite obvious that Mr. Pogan's actions towards the cyclist was a little ridiculous and uncalled for.

A straight out, hard cold elbow at the cyclist, Chris Long, that eventually sent Long flying long over the curb at probably 10 or 15 mph.

Whack!

Not only must the rider have sustained a good amount of bruises, but the officer must have also gotten hurt since in the scuffle, it may have been hard to avoid the sharp components of the bicycle, like a pedal hitting the cop's urinary system or something...

The biggest surprise of the day though, was the officer's statement against the cyclist, produced in county court.

Check it out. I've circled some statements that may or will look pretty inconsistent to a viewer of the video above.

Arrest authorized? Third degree assault?

Being neutral, I certainly was surprised and slightly entertained by the punch but what I ended up enjoying on the other hand as well was the alleged prophetic message of the cyclist during arrest.

Here's what is meant by Third Degree Assault in the New York Penal Code Section 120.00

§ 120.00 Assault in the third degree. A person is guilty of assault in the third degree when: 1. With intent to cause physical injury to another person, he causes such injury to such person or to a third person; or 2. He recklessly causes physical injury to another person; or 3. With criminal negligence, he causes physical injury to another person by means of a deadly weapon or a dangerous instrument. Assault in the third degree is a class A misdemeanor.

I dont see a place for third degree assault after watching the video.

Oh well, the story is a little old now anyway, but I guess this could be a lesson against stupidity.

I try to be neutral also, but the bike was trying to avoid the officer, and I doubt that he did anything different that the other bikes that past the officer in the video. Violent additudes towards cycles by drivers, ER doctors in LA and officers can not be tolerated.